Kraken Expands Services with Regulated Spot Margin Trading in US

San Francisco-based cryptocurrency exchange Kraken has expanded its services to include regulated spot margin trading for U.S. retail users.

The move, which allows users to trade with up to 10 times leverage, is a significant development in the industry, as such products have largely been unavailable to U.S. retail investors until now.

The launch follows Kraken's parent company Payward's acquisition of Bitnomial, a Chicago-based derivatives exchange that holds licenses issued by the CFTC.

This acquisition is seen as a key step in strengthening Kraken's position in regulated derivatives infrastructure, ahead of a potential public listing. The trading platform has also submitted a confidential S-1 registration draft to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in November.